Cellulosic fibrous structures are a staple of everyday life. Cellulosic fibrous structures are used as consumer products for paper towels, toilet tissue, facial tissue, napkins, and the like. The large demand for such paper products has created a demand for improved versions of the products and the methods of their manufacture.
Some consumer prefer embossed cellulosic fibrous structure products that have a softer, more three-dimensional, quilted appearance. Consumers also desire products having the appearance of relatively high caliper with aesthetically pleasing decorative patterns exhibiting a high quality cloth-like appearance. Such attributes, however, must be provided without sacrificing the other desired functional qualities of the product such as softness, absorbency, drape (flexibility/limpness) and bond strength between the plies.
Multiple ply cellulosic fibrous structures are known in the art of consumer products. Such products are cellulosic fibrous structures having more than one, typically two, plies superimposed in face-to-face relationship to form a laminate. It is known in the art to emboss sheets comprising multiple plies of tissue for aesthetic purposes and to maintain the plies in face-to-face relation during use. In addition, embossing can increase the surface area of the plies thereby enhancing their bulk and water holding capacity.
The prior art teaches that embossing may improve appearance and generally improves (i.e.; increases) the functional attributes of absorbency, compressibility, and bulk of the paper product while it may negatively impact the drape (i.e.; increasing the bending stiffness) of the paper. The prior art also teaches that lamination may improve appearance and may generally improve bulk while negatively impacting drape.
Nonetheless, striking a balance between embossing/laminating used to create an aesthetically pleasing product without sacrificing the functional attributes of the product has always been difficult.
Hence, the present invention unexpectedly provides an aesthetically pleasing tissue/towel product with high quality cloth-like appearance as well as an enhanced quilted appearance while maintaining absorbency, softness, drape, and bond strength between the plies. The present invention provides a multiply fibrous structure product for optimizing this relationship.